Weekly Game Music: Some Like it Red Hot (Viewtiful Joe)

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. This week’s music is Some Like it Red Hot, baby! Two cool dudes, Masakazu Sugimori and Masami Ueda, manage to capture the exciting and flashy nature of a city. It best fits the rad superhero action game, Viewtiful Joe.

Viewtiful Joe, is, like, an action game about a stupid nobody named Joe. The loser is such a hopeless fanboy of Captain Blue, man! Even ends up being the only audience in a movie re-run, with his, you know, hot girlfriend Silvia. Poor girl. Anyway, Silvia totally gets kidnapped into the movie world, and Joe gets sucked into it by force. But wait, it gets better! Joe gets this rad V-Watch, turning him into a red-suited action hero. Man, those pants are tight!

Anyhoo, Viewtiful Joe is this action-packed 2.5D beat’em-up all the cool kids are talking about. To spice up his action, Joe can make time run slower or faster, allowing him to solve puzzles, cream enemies, or just look plain wicked. On top of that, the game has this sweet cell-shaded graphics that totally makes it look like a cartoon. It’s just how Joe rolls.

Viewtiful Joe was originally released on the Gamecube in 2009. It has also been ported to the PS2 as well. It’s hardcore, dude!
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Weekly Game Music: Me and My Little War (Elebits)

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. We’re at war. A war composed by Naoyuki Sato and Michiru Yamane. Me and My Little War is a fitting title for Elebits hero, Kai. The music’s exciting outbursts, followed by a childish melody, best depicts Kai’s selfish attempts at getting his parent’s attention, even in a middle of a crisis.

Elebits is told through the eyes of Kai, a seemingly neglected child. Kai’s parents, both Elebits researchers, rushes out one night on an emergency blackout. Disgruntled, Kai attempts to create his own power by collecting wild Elebits — power-generating spirits — using his father’s trusty gravity gun.

Elebits is a physics toybox that utilizes Wii’s motion controls to grab and throw nearly everything in the game. The game begins with a rather under-powered gun: you can only lift small things, like boxes and toys. As you collect the Elebits hiding behind objects, though, your gun grows gradually stronger, eventually letting you throw trucks and buildings with ease.

Elebits was originally released on the Wii in 2006. It’s sequel, which plays nothing like the original, was released on the Nintendo DS.
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Weekly Game Music: Dissociative Identity (Killer7)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. I haven’t posted that many sad music, so here’s one from the surreal noir game, Killer7. It’s Dissociative Identity by Masafumi Takada. The music plays during a sudden revelation when Garcian Smith (in the video below) discovers his real identity.

Killer7 story follows a group of assassins with the same name, hired to take on several targets directed by the US government. A group of terrorists calledHeavenly Smiles are literally destroying the peaceful foundation created by the US, and Killer7 are the only group of people who can see and kill Heavenly Smiles. Killer7, of course, aren’t normal people either. In fact, they’re actually one person with 8 different bodies, personalities, and abilities. Since each mission takes place at different time and places, the story is frequently disjointed and difficult to follow.

Killer7 is a bloody, controversial game that does everything in its power to make you feel uncomfortable, without being frustrating. It’s controls are a great example: instead of allowing you to run and kill whenever you want to, your character is forced to walk on a specific track forwards and back. Killing enemies, of course, involves first listening for a disturbing laugh (Heavenly Smiles are invisible, remember), then aiming towards the sound in first person (you stationary at this position), and scanning the area to make the enemies visible. The game’s distinct gameplay allows it to use dramatic — and again, uncomfortable — camera angles to highlight either the character or area in interest. Almost all puzzles are in point-and-click affair, adding the disjointedness to the game.

Killer7 was originally released on the Gamecube in 2005. It has been ported to PS2.

Extra!

Title: Rave On
Game: Killer7
Composer: Masafumi Takada

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Weekly Game Music: The Angarian Journey (Golden Sun)

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. Let’s get those nostalgic glands running, shall we? Here’s The Angarian Journey by Motoi Sakuraba. It’s an amazing and epic overworld music for the equally sophisticated game, Golden Sun. Despite the hardware limitation on the Gameboy Advance, this music still proves that composition really is the king.

Golden Sun starts with a traumatic childhood memories of Isaac, Garet and Jenna. During a big storm, the three attempts to help and save a few lives around their town. During these heroic risks, they learn of a plot of two mysterious figures attempting to steal a certain gem from their temple, who’s trap system triggered the storm. Unfortunately for the trio, Jenna’s brother and parents gets caught in a terrible flood, followed by a gigantic boulder. A few years later, shaken but still strong, the trio attempt to retrieve the jewel the two villains tried to steal, and learn of an interesting plot that turns into a long journey.

Golden Sun plays like an old-school turn-based RPG, complete with random encounters. What the game did different, however, was the introduction ofDjinns, elemental creatures that, combined with the element of its magic user, creates new abilities. Equipping a water Djinn on the rock magic user, Isaac, for example, allowed him to use plant-based magic. Similarly, using a rock Djinn on fire-based Garet allowed him to use lava-based magic. Unequipped Djinns can be used for summoning as well, leading to screen-filling, glorious special effects that obliterates the on-screen enemies. For its time, the game had spectacular 3D sprites and special effects.

Golden Sun was released on the Gameboy Advance in 2001. One of it’s sequel can be played on the Nintendo DS.

Extra!

Title: Forest’s Requiem
Game: Golden Sun
Composer: Motoi Sakuraba

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Weekly Game Music: Tetrobot (Blocks That Matter)

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. Here’s a soothing chiptune-like music from the puzzle game, Blocks That Matter. Tetrobot is the title character’s name, who’s theme is composed by Yann Van Der Cruyssen — the same composer as Cave Story+. It’s relatively non-serious tone sets stage for a hilarious indie game about two kidnapped game designers, and their robot to save them.

Blocks That Matter has a self-referencing story: in the magical land of Sweden, renowned game developers Alexey Pajitnov (of Tetris fame) and Markus Persson (of Minecraft fame) were working on a project that, decidedly, was not game related. Lo and behold when a bunch of darkly hooded men with guns kidnap them to an unknown location, and it’s the role of Tetrobot, their secret project, to go save them.

Blocks That Matter is a 2D puzzle game that borrows ideas from Minecraft, i.e. digging blocks to move them to a different location. Unlike Minecraft, however, our robot can only place the blocks it carries in a Tetris-block formation. You know, the usual stuff. The game levels, of course, progresses in a predictable manner: go through a pre-set level, and reach to the black-hole-like portal.

Blocks That Matter was released on the PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360 in 2011. It’s available for download on Steam and Xbox Live.
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Weekly Game Music: Mii Channel (Wii)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. Lets try something different, shall we? Here’s the Mii Channel music from the Nintendo Wii console. It’s composed by Kazumi Totaka: the composer who frequently drops the Totaka Song Easter eggs in his games.

Well, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about the Mii Channel, let alone the Wii Console, but…according to the Iwata Talks interviews, the developers has intended to make it a simple, fun character avatar creation that anyone can use. The music is composed to be inviting, in that sense.
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